MYBIZSPOT

Discover business topics

Doing business worldwide

Blog about doing business internationally.

Lithuania is a nation in Northern Europe’s Baltic region. Poland, Belarus, Latvia, and Kaliningrad Oblast are the countries that border Lithuania. The largest capital city of Lithuania, which has a total size of around 25,200 square miles, is Vilnius. The largest economy in the Baltic area and a member of the EU is Lithuania. Other EU countries account for almost 95% of Lithuania’s foreign direct investments. The Schengen Agreement, NATO, the Eurozone, and the Council of Europe all include Lithuania as a member.

You will find some finest leading industries in Lithuania below.

Manufacturing

One of Lithuania’s key industries, accounting for 11% of all exports, is the food processing sector. In Lithuania, there are roughly 979 registered food processing businesses that create a variety of items, including dairy goods, meat, fish, vegetables, fruits, baked goods, cereals, spices, and herbs. More than 4.5% of Lithuania’s GDP and 4.6% of its workers are employed in the food and beverage industry. Chemicals make up about 12.5% of Lithuania’s exports, making them another important manufacturing sector. More than 80% of Lithuania’s chemical output is exported. In Lithuania, the furniture manufacturing industry employs over 50,000 people, and IKEA partners with the largest companies in this area.

Financial services

The Bank of this country has granted nine commercial banks and eight international bank branches operating permits to conduct business in this nation. International firms own a substantial portion of these institutions. In the European Union, this country has established itself as the main FinTech hub. All prospective investors will receive European operational licenses from the Lithuanian government within three months, as opposed to a full year as it is in other European countries, as promised. After the Bank of Lithuania and the government made it easier to obtain licenses for various payment institutions and e-money activities, 35 FinTech companies relocated to Lithuania in 2017. Following the UK with 128 licenses, Lithuania has issued the second-most e-money licenses in the EU (39 licenses). Additionally, Lithuania hopes to entice more financial institutions that will be looking to expand outside following Brexit. In 2018, Google opened a payments business in this country.

Agriculture

Since the Neolithic era, farming in this country has been one of the most significant occupations in this nation. A new agricultural age was ushered in as a result of the EU entry in 2004. The purity and safety of food are highly prioritized by the European Union. In 1999, the Lithuanian parliament established legislation on industrial safety, and in 2000, it passed a law on food. These two statutes served as the foundation for Lithuania’s agricultural reforms. Over 8% of the workforce here is employed in the agricultural sector, which also provides the majority of the nation’s food processing businesses with raw ingredients.

Tourism

The Lithuanian economy depends heavily on the tourist industry, which generated 5.3% of the country’s GDP in 2016. The nation’s 22,000 rivers and streams, 4 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, 3,000 lakes, and distinctive coastal regions are just a few of its top tourism destinations. In 2016, more than 1.49 million people traveled to Lithuania. Tourists from the UK (58,200), Ukraine (84,000), Latvia (143,400), Poland (148,400), Belarus (171,900), Russia (15,600), and Germany made up a significant portion of the country’s total visitors (174,800). In this nation, bicycle tourism is fairly common, notably along the 2,342-mile Seaside bike routes. In Trakai and Vilnius, hot-air ballooning is a popular activity. There are many large cities in this country, including Kaunas, Klaipeda, and Vilnius, as well as seaside resorts, like Palanga and Neringa, and spa towns (Birstonas and Druskininkai).

Other industries

Information and communication technologies, or ICTs, are one of the main subsectors in this nation and have more than 37,000 employees. In Lithuania, there are about 2,000 ICT businesses. Thirteen of the top twenty IT companies in the Baltic region are based in Lithuania. During the second quarter of 2018, the nation exported ICT services worth €128 million. In this country, shared services and business process outsourcing are two of the most promising subsectors. Western Union, Yara International, and Barclays are just a few of the multinational corporations that have outsourced some of their activities to Lithuania.